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Coalition of the Established

A portal for large corporations (Public and Private) to post their digital development requirements / ideas for development. Web developers could then take up the challenge, generating income for their own projects.

Written by
DeletedUser

02:38, Apr 25, 2012

Established corporations typically have a back log of ideas for implementation, but can not get to them due to a lack of staff.

The coalition of the established would allow organisations to post their digital development requirements, essentially allowing developers to work as freelancers for large corporations, earning income, experience and credibility all the while gaining funding for their own project.

These ideas are clearly going to be public, so there is an aspect of open source, but that might actually aid in the development and funding of the ideas, as some would be relevant for several parties, allowing them to spread risk, development costs and provide more users.

How will your concept support web entrepreneurship?

Financing and experience in a corporate environment
Contact with established businesses
Build contacts with a network of developers

What kinds of resources will be needed to get this concept off the ground and scale it?

Established players setting a precedent and getting involved
A web presence that minimise barriers to sharing ideas for the Established yet provides Start Ups with enough development incentive and content interest to get involved
Funding by the EC to get things rolling ;)

How could we get started?

We have identified some possible areas to explore, as well as attempted to address the main concerns noted about the idea, namely: How do we establish trust between developers and 'The Established', and minimise industrial espionage that might occur by publicly posting an idea.
1. Rather than posting their development requirements online, 'The Established' could bring in teams of developers with the necessary skills to accomplish their development goals. Entrepreneurs would post CVs and interests online, allowing 'The Established' to get in contact with the developers they believe best fit their requirements.
2. Corporate Venturing teams from 'The Established' could bring in web development teams that they believe best fit their own development goals. Benefits are significant: new skills and start up passion infused within the organisation. Perhaps a company like Telefonica, which already has an incubator in the form of Wayra, could pioneer this – for instance by opening up specific projects to Wayra entrepreneurs and their contacts, or by inviting Wayra entrepreneurs to participate in some internal product or strategic direction setting meetings.
3. Like the Start Ups they are supporting, 'The Established' would also need to start small - developers are not going to rebuild 'The Established's' entire UX or infrastructure overnight; small tasks that are not mission critical for 'The Established' could be publicly published - we expect a lower barrier to sharing by 'The Established', while still providing them with the development support and the start up with the funding, experience and network. After initial development of a non critical development need, the establishment of trust and the demonstration of competency, the Parties could then go through a more formal, NDA signing process and move onto more innovative aspects of development.
4. We heard a lot about Start Up USA and their 4 stages of development:
: IDEA : START UP: RAMP UP : SPEED UP : - thanks Irene!
Could the coalition be administered by an independent body that organised specific services or contacts for start-ups as appropriate for their life-stage? The administrator could work with start-ups to identify which needs are most important at each lifestage and establish relationships with corporations which could support those. A good MVP could be built with a concept like Matching Entrepreneurs and Experts, where some of the experts could be internal to a corporation. As the start-ups grow, the concept could grow with them, moving from individuals providing advice to corporations providing access to technologies, networks, etc.

Virtual Team:

Irene Carrión Álvarez
Amy Bonsall - you rock!
Danielle Barnes

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DeletedUser

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DeletedUser

10:13, May 24, 2012

I really like the idea of big companies supporting start-ups and I wonder how the reverse can also come into play: how can big companies learn to act like more start ups? Some big companies have a lot to learn about being nimble, fast-moving and innovative -- the forte of many start-ups. How could the EC create/facilitate a mutual relationship between the two where big companies support start-ups and start-ups in exchange show them the ropes on putting these skills into practice?

Like any endeavor in: innovation, urban development, entrepreneurship...the Vision and Means to steer the objective - it is a good start...work in progress...INCs and startups are driven for profit. the dilemma is over value and productivity that sets a culture within